Kolkata, Aug 19 (IANS) Heavyweights East Bengal rallied from a twin-goal deficit to prevail over Army XI 3-2 in a Calcutta Football League (CFL) Premier division encounter here on Wednesday.
A brace from East bengal’s South Korean attacking midfielder Do Dong-Hyun cancelled out strikes from Mawayia and Jain for Army XI before left back Soumik Dey found the winner for the defending champions in the 76th minute of the game at their home ground.
East Bengal now top the table with three wins from four games while Army XI are second on the table with three wins from five matches.
It was Army XI, however, who started the contest on the front foot as they pressed forward at every opportunity.
Sixteen minutes into the exchange, they drew first blood as Maiwa scored from a cross from Shadiq which was deflected to the former by East Bengal defender Bello Razaq.
In the 34th minute Jain doubled the lead for the Army outfit heading in a delightful cross from the right.
At halftime, Army XI led 2-0.
After the break, East Bengal coach Biswajit Bhattarcharjee’s vocal tonic seemed to have brought the team back to life as they gave it their all to crawl back into the contest.
They were finally rewarded as Dong unleashed a left-footer after latching onto a Soumik cross in the 58th minute.
After 11 minutes Dong struck again as he followed in on a shot from midfielder Calvin Lobo to place it into the net.
With momentum their way, the red and gold brigade finally found the winner as Soumik Dey buried in a cross from the left.